What is the Crown obliged to tell you?

Good Day Readers:

Recently (Monday) we posted the Toronto Star article, Charges stayed against millionaire, dominatrix in alleged plot to kill wife.

Long story short. Well-known Toronto criminal defence lawyer Edward Greenspan was able to get charges against his clients stayed by the Crown when investigators from his office uncovered a serious flaw (conflict of interest) in the police investigation. When confronted with the information the Crown immediately dropped the charges. What interested us was Mr. Greenspan's comment,

"Edward Greenspan, Petraitis's lawyer, told court the decision is not transparent because there is nothing ot force the Crown to divulge why proceedings are being stayed."

We wondered, how much information is the Manitoba Crown Prosecutors Office obliged to make public when it stays a charge(s)? Recall a couple months ago we covered the case of Provincial Court Judge Brian M. Corrin charged with assault and uttering a threat (February this year) against his 81-year old mother Celia. At the fourth Hearing (previous three resulted in adjournments), Ontario Crown Paul McDermott assured Court (Provincial Judge Kelly Moar) he reached his decision not to proceed in the complete absence of any interference from Manitoba Justice.

Mr. McDermott made reference to conflicting forensic evidence as a reason but did not elaborate. Using these two cases as a backdrop we telephoned the Duty Crown in the CPO who kindly referred us to someone better positioned to respond to our question. No need to put their name out there other than to say they were indeed quite prepared to assist.

Essentially, when a charge is stayed the Crown has up to one year to reinstate it in which case the process continues where it left off. Beyond that it must return to square one to begin over again. Although not specifically discussed, we're assuming if anyone were dissatisifed with a Crown Prosecutors explanation given judges are federally appointed it stands to reason one would have to make application through The Access to Information Act.

We're not aware whether this has been done yet in Manitoba (haven't researched the matter) and have no intention of testing the system at least in the foreseeable future, however, it could be an interesting project for someone.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk